Agatha Christie Trivia

jennifer

I found a book at a "Jumble Sale" called AC Trivia by Richard T. Ryan.  Awesome questions and somewhat difficult.  Is anyone interested in hearing questions?  I will throw out a few and see who bites...

1. One of AC's best-loved creations was mystery writer Ariadne Oliver, who occasionally dabbled as a detective.  However, in one instance, Dame Agatha attributed a book to Ariadne with a title to which she must have been partial, for she later used it herself.  Name the mystery that started out as one of Ariadne's and ended up one of Agatha's.

2. Quotations from a variety of literary sources figure prominently in a number of Christie titles.  However, great authors notwithstanding, how many of her full-length mysteries have titles taken from nursery rhymes?

3.  The position of a chair proved of vital importance, for from its location in the room Poirot deduced that it had been moved to conceal an item on a table.  In what case was the arrangement of the furniture so critical?

Cynthia V.Anderson

What a fantastic find!  #1?;

 #2 I can only think of "A Pocket Full of Rye" and "10 Little Indians ~ And Then There Were None" 

#3 I can see the printing on the page in my mind but I can't remember which book it was.

Can't wait to read other's responses.

lachy.a.w

I don't know about Q1, but:
Q2 - I can add to what Cynthia said with "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe".
Q3 - This one is one of her most famous novels Cynthia! The Murder of Roger Ackroyd!

roamingrover86

Q2: In addition to what has been mentioned earlier, "Hickory Dickory Dock"

jennifer

Ok, I'll leave #1 open for a bit longer.

#2 - There are 8 total titles taken from nursery rhymes.  So far we have:

      1. Pocket Full of Rye

      2. Ten Little Indians

      3.  One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

      4.  Hickory Dickory Dock (Death)

There is one more easy title, then a few tough ones.

#3 - Correct lachy, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

GKCfan

#1 is The Body in the Library.  Anne Meredith identifies this as one of Mrs. Oliver's books in Cards on the Table.

GKCfan

#2 answers:

5. Crooked House

6. Mrs. McGinty's Dead

7. Five Little Pigs

GKCfan

8. Three Blind Mice and Other Stories

lachy.a.w

You should post some more questions if you have them!

jennifer

Good job GKC for finishing question 2 and #1!  How about some trivia about Poirot and Marple?

Poirot - 

1. How tall is the little Belgian?

2. What two words does Hastings tell us are Poirot's "gods?"

3. What color are his eyes?

4. What religion does he practice?

5. What unusual activity does he engage in "to soothe his nerves" when he is upset?

Miss Marple - 

6. In Murder at the Vicarage, what does Miss Marple tell us her hobby is?

7. In what country was Miss Jane M. educated, and can you also come up with the city in which she attended school?

8. Who is Miss Marple's closest friend in her village?

9. What is Miss Marple's nephew's name, and what does he do for a living?

10.  Miss Marple is extraordinarily observant.  What color are the dear lady's eyes, with which she "sees everything?". 

lachy.a.w

1. 5 feet 4 inches

2. not sure...

3. green! - this is neglected in almost all adaptations

4. Catholicism??

5. don't know

I can't answer any of the Miss Marple ones.

GKCfan

2. "Order" & "Method."

5. Building card houses.

GKCfan

6. I don't remember exactly, but I'd say either knitting, gardening, or gossip.

7. Though many of her lessons were given at her home in England early on, in They Do It With Mirrors we learn about the pensionnat in Florence, Italy, with the Martin sisters.

8. Not sure, but I'd say Dolly Bantry.

9. Raymond West, novelist.

10.  China-blue.

jennifer

Good morning!  Between lachy and GKC - all correct except Miss Marple's hobby.  She says her hobby is "human nature."  Yes, Dolly Bantry, and Poirot is Roman Catholic.  GKC - are you really good at AC trivia - or do you have this book too?

These 3 questions come from a chapter called "A School of Red Herrings."

1. Red herrings are not always red, but this one certainly was.  What colorful "clue" did Poirot discover concealed in his own luggage aboard the Orient Express?

2.  What had been hidden under Poirot's seat in Death in the Air that seemed to point to the detective as a killer?

3. Under the body of the dead Enoch Arden in There Is A Tide, two bright red herrings were discovered.  Can you recall the items in question?

glalonzo0408

1. the red robe

MissQuin

2.) Death On The Nile-  the blowpipe curio.

jennifer

Correct for 1 and 2 - the scarlet kimono and the blowpipe.

jennifer

A few more "red herrings:"

4. What foreign element did Poirot discover in the bushes outside the Welman home in Sad Cypress?

5. Although it wasn't the murder weapon, this implement was found close by Lady Tressilian's bashed-in head in Towards Zero?

6. What physical disability affected young Emlyn Price in Nemesis and had absolutely nothing to do with the denouement of that particular puzzle?

7. What is the biggest blind in The Clocks, a red herring so cunning that it stumped even Poirot for a time?

lachy.a.w

4. I should know this, but it's not coming to me.
5. Was it a candlestick?

jennifer

lachy - no, #5 is not a candlestick.  Interesting her name though - Lady Tressilian - I'm reading Poirot's Christmas and the butler is Tressilian.

MissQuin

7.) was it the rucksack?

jennifer

#7. No, not a rucksack.

We still need #3 from above, then 4 - 7.  I will give answers tomorrow (Sat.) if no one guesses.

Clue for #5 - used for a sporting event.

GKCfan

I don't have this book, I'm just good at AC trivia!

3. A cigarette lighter and a broken wristwatch?

4. A foreign matchbook.

5. A niblick (golf club)

jennifer

Ok - answers...

#3 - GKC 1/2 correct - cigarette lighter with initials D.H. and a bright red lipstick

#4 - GKC correct - a German matchbox

#5 - correct again - niblick, golf club

#6 - He was colorblind

#7 - What is the biggest blind in The Clocks - a red herring so cunning that it stumped even Poirot for a time?

    answer - Why, the clocks themselves!

jennifer

Smoking Guns and Other Clues:

1. A bottle thrown from a window, a bath which no one admitted taking, and a pair of scissors all puzzled Poirot until he viewed them from the proper angle.  In which case were such disparate elements all vitally important to the solution?

2. In 13 at Dinner, Poirot found an object in Carlotta Adams's handbag that did not belong to the dead woman.  What did our ever-observant sleuth discover which provided him with a much-needed bit of insight?

3. In which of the little Belgian's various investigations did a cut-up rucksack, missing light bulbs, a pseudo-kleptomaniac and matricide all combine to pose a problem requiring more than one of Poirot's famous "little ideas?"

GKCfan

1. Evil Under the Sun

2. A case containing veronal "From D."

3. Hickory Dickory Dock

jennifer

You are two for three GKC!  #2 is incorrect.  I'll give you a bit more time.

Zeddie

Apologies if I am butting in but I think the answer to question 2 is a pince-nez?

jennifer

Zeddie - you are correct!  A prince-nez.  You're not butting in - please join us.

New questions are on their way.

jennifer

Today's category is:  Fifty Ways to Kill Your Victims:

1. Can you recall the decidedly unlucky way in which Lucky Dyson died in A Caribbean Mystery?  Hint: It was the same fate that Joyce Reynolds suffered while attending a Halloween Party.

2. In The Sittaford Mystery (Murder at Hazelmoor), Captain Trevelyan was coshed to death.  Can you remember the weapon?

3. Although unsuccessful, the first attempt on Emily Arundell's life in Poirot Loses a Client might have worked with a bit of luck.  How was Miss A. nearly killed at the outset of the story?

4. Slipping something lethal into the victim's cocktail is a Christie staple.  What was Heather Badcock drinking in The Mirror Crack'd when she died?

lachy.a.w

1. She was shot but she wasn't the intended victim?